Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui on Monday endorsed a proposal for cooperation between China, India and Pakistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) even as he cautioned that ties between Beijing and New Delhi could not take the strain of another episode like last summer’s Doklam stand-off. He was inaugurating a seminar on ‘Beyond Wuhan–How far and fast …

Calculatedly vague before a fawning audience was Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday when promising the FICCI ladies organisation at a function focused on gender parity that the armed services would be opening up more avenues to women in its officer cadres. There can be no disputing the nobility of her intentions ~ as the nation’s …

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said women are the catalysts of change in our society. He was addressing the gathering after giving away the Young Women Achievers Awards 2017-18, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on Friday. Rajnath Singh said that a country cannot rise if half its …

The government and the Reserve Bank of India should make sure that the Rs 13,000-crore PNB scam does not lead to a “fear psychosis” in the financial system which chills economic activity in the country, a prominent industry lobby has said. Emergence of the scam should not lead to a “paralysis” and “fear psychosis”, Rashesh …

A day after the government set a 15-day deadline for public sector banks (PSBs) to examine all non-performing assets above Rs 50 crore for possible fraud and to identify operational and technical gaps, industry chamber Ficci on Wednesday said the move would help in ensuring the much-required cleansing of the banking system. The chamber also …

Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has had a positive impact on the logistics of businesses, while glitches in the GSTN portal, cumbersome procedures and cost of compliance remain major areas of concern, industry body Ficci said on Sunday, citing its survey in this regard. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and …

The newly formed Tribal India Commerce and Industry (TICCI), a body affiliated to FICCI, organised a seminar to sensitise tribals on opportunities available to them to be entrepreneurs. The seminar was held in association with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and MSME Development Institute. Small Industry Development Bank of India (SIDB), Regional Industry Centre (RIC) …

E-commerce giant Amazon India on Friday said it has tied-up with FICCI-Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CMSME) to promote business-to-consumer (B2C) exports in the country and enable Indian exporters to sell globally. The company said it will conduct various training events and workshops across the country with FICCI-CMSME focused on its “global selling …

As far as the bidding for mining blocks are concerned, Odisha Government has taken steps to open up vistas for mineral auction with insistence on prospecting as par as UNFC guidelines. Significantly the drilling have been outsourced which will not only hasten the process for reserve determination but also lead to hastle free determination of …

The government’s ambitious smart cities project is progressing briskly and the ‘Smart Cities Mission is a step towards achieving the mission to improve the ease of living for Indians, particularly for the poor, women, elderly and differently-abled people, minister for urban affairs and housing Hardeep Singh Puri said here on Tuesday. Speaking at the Smart …

The Election Commission has set up a panel to suggest amendments to a provision in the election law barring campaigning 48 hours ahead of polling, following complaints that it has failed to keep pace with information technology. The panel will be headed by senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha. It will have eight other members …

As highlighted in my earlier article, “Uniform Criminal Code” (11 December), we appear to be stuck in a time warp so far as the administration of the criminal justice system is concerned. Alarmingly, a far more deleterious trend is now in evidence in civil matters ~ action is taken by the authorities based solely on …

Industry body Ficci on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the inaugural address at its 90th annual general meeting (AGM) which will held from December 13 to 14, 2017. According to Ficci, this will be for the first time that Prime Minister Modi will speak at an AGM of a leading industry …

India and Russia have agreed to increase cooperation in the area of skill development at the ongoing World Skills Abu Dhabi (WSAD) event in the UAE, industry chamber Ficci said on Tuesday. “Ficci facilitated several key meetings between National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the Skill Development Ministry, Russia and the World Skills team to increase …